Pakistan International Airlines

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is now allowing charter flights operated under the aegis of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to operate into the United Kingdom.

A suspension was legally implemented following the decision of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to withdraw the airline's Third Country Operator safety certificate following a crash at Karachi Airport with 97 fatalities and the grounding of 262 Pakistani pilots whose licences the country’s aviation minister termed “dubious”. (See BTN 25 May)

The CAA has now approved a request from the company to be allowed to recommence services from Islamabad to Birmingham and Manchester using aircraft chartered from the EU carrier Hi Fly Ltd. PIA's Foreign Carrier Permit has been amended accordingly.

EASA's prohibition on PIA operating flights into the European Common Aviation Area with its own aircraft is unaffected by this amendment.

The CAA initial statement (1 July 2020) on PIA

Index/Home page
 

OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum